Smokey Robinson Announced as Keynote Speaker for SXSW 2010

South by Southwest has announced that the keynote speaker for the 2010 music conference will be the legendary Smokey Robinson.  Smokey Joe’s address will kick-off the 24th year of the world-renowned conference whose keynote speakers from recent years have included Lou Reed, Pete Townshend and Neil Young… In other SXSW updates, the conference has partnered with 99designs for a contest to choose the official 2010 t-shirt. Head here for more info on how to enter a design. Stay tuned for more SXSW updates…

Santa Barbara will never be the same...

As we’re recovering from VMS, it seems like the fall is now the new season for must-attend music conferences, CMJ will be in full effect at the end of October and this week, New Noise Santa Barbara will take place October 8-10, 2009. The three-day event is a music and digital media conference that will showcase emerging and established acts, as well as host educational panels. The diverse speaker line-up will feature influential media players such as Pandora founder Tim Westergren to Hopeless Records’ Louis Posen, while the artist line-up includes Michael Franti & Spearhead, Edward Sharpe, Rob Roy and Avi Buffalo, to name a few. Sounds like a great time in beautiful Santa Barbara…

For more info, log on to: www.NewNoiseSB.com

If you’re looking for live music in SoCal this weekend there’s no shortage of opportunities.  Sunset Junction makes its annual return for the 29th year this Saturday (8/22) and Sunday (8/23) in Silver Lake, featuring performances from Connor Oberst, Built to Spill, The Sonics as well as local favorites like Dengue Fever, Local Natives and many others. Also on Saturday (8/22) is the debut of the Epicenter rock festival taking place at the Pomona Fairplex. The event features headliners Tool, Linkin Park and Wolfmother among other big name acts.  And if you’re looking for something a little more laid back, High Places and Silk Flowers will be playing a daytime show at the Eagle Rock Cultural Center on Sunday (8/23), presented by FYF Fest and the Eagle Rock Music Festival…

www.sunsetjunction.org
www.epicenterfestival.com
www.centerartseaglerock.org

2nd Annual Sunset Strip Music Festivlal to Bring Chaos to the Order

Lots of buzz building around the 2nd annual Sunset Strip Music Festival taking place on September 10-12. The event will enclose a section of the Sunset Strip to feature two outdoor stages and six venues: the Roxy, Viper Room, Key Club, Whiskey A Go-Go, Cat Club and House of Blues. Event promoters recently added Korn to the eclectic line-up, which also includes Chris Cornell, Pepper, Unwritten Law and Shiny Toy Guns, to name a few. We give props to the Roxy’s Nic Adler and event producers for what is shaping up to be a must-see music festival. For the full line-up and more info: www.sunsetstripmusicfestival.com…

On the Film/TV front, congrats goes to Bob Thiele Jr. on his Primetime Emmy nomination for the theme to FX’s Sons of Anarchy.  Thiele also held music supervision duties for the show, which featured a number of emerging artists such as Audra Mae, Lions and Year Long Disaster, helping to distinguish the show as a new tastemaker outlet…

We mentioned how much we liked the new Wolfmother album, Cosmic Egg, and it looks like we’re not the only ones.  We hear a hefty pub derby (in the 7-figure range) is brewing with both majors and boutique pubcos who are trying to ink the Brisbane-based trio led by Andrew Stockdale.  Publishers in the mix are Universal Music Publishing, Sony/ATV, Chrysalis Music, Cherry Lane and Warner/Chappell. Stay tuned…

Meanwhile, after releasing 2008’s Elephant Shell via Saddle Creek Records, it appears that Tokyo Police Club has found a new label home with Mom & Pop Records, which is a division of Q-Prime and run by well-respected industry vet Michael Goldstone…

Finally, SoCal locals Call the Cops have made it into the final 5 in the MySpace/Toyota-sponsored Rock the Space contest. The winner of  which receives a deal with MySpace Records.

If you can find this house, come join us...

Yes yes, Coachella 2009 starts this Friday. We’re hearing lots of industry folks commenting on a light line-up this year and opting not to attend, but we continue to give props to Goldenvoice and event founder Paul Tollett for putting on a fantastic event every year.  Our annual romp in the desert is always a blast, and we enjoy (usually a little too much) attending the parties surrounding the festival. Seems like the party circuit is scaled back a bit this year due to our current economic climate, which should give more focus back to the artists and the music, but there’s still plenty going on.  As usual Filter will be throwing their pre-Coachella party on Thursday night, and T-Mobile and Adidas are also back in the mix this year.  To get your sunshine and BBQ fix, stop by Dim Mak & 55DSL’s Saturday event as well as Anthem Magazine’s annual non-stop pool party.  If you actually make it to the Polo Fields, some of the smaller-font artists not to miss include Buraka Som Sistema, Alberta Cross (Fri.) | Ida Maria, Cloud Cult (Sat.) | The Gaslight Anthem, The Night Marchers (Sun.).  Other highlights this year will include a Record Store Day tent that will be frequented throughout the weekend by a plethora of artists and for all you sweet-toothed vegans, there will even be luxury vegan cupcakes at this year’s festival.  We are receiving a decent amount of invites, so if you’re promoting a party/event at Coachella, give us a shout with the info at blog@RM64.com.  See you there…